Re: [Devil-Linux-discuss] Running VMware Server on Devil-Linux

[John J. <jo...@jo...>]

Hi all,

A bit off the DL topic, but thought I'd jump in,

IDE normally works fine as an install media, or just boot from a USB stick with the ESXi version... but neither work as storage for the VMDK's afaik. Some SATA controllers looke like SCSI and can therefore host VMDKs.

If you are creative, you can use iSCSI in the Service Console and present the IDE disk back to ESX as an iSCSI disk.... This used to work on the older version of ESX's, but not sure about vSphere. NFS is another option, but it must be NFS over TCP, not UDP.

Intel hardware tends to work better than AMD as AMD server architecture is different from workstation and therfore less likly to work on kit people have at home. Most Intel network cards tend to work. (But check the HCL for chipset verification)

Shopping list:
I use cheap MSI Fuzzy mainboards, both embedded Intel network cards work fine with ESX. One is boot from USB the other Compact Flash, mini-itx formfactor. All use iSCSI from the OpenFiler distribution for the VMDKs (A mix of IDE and SATA disks). (Not all USB sticks work, it took me 3 attempts)


JJ

________________________________________
From: Bruce Smith [bw...@re...]
Sent: 21 October 2009 15:02
To: dev...@li...
Subject: Re: [Devil-Linux-discuss] Running VMware Server on Devil-Linux

>>> The main problem with ESXi
>>
>> The other main problem with ESXi is a Windows-only client is required
>> to administer it.  Which for us Mac & Linux only households, it means
>> I still need a copy of the old VMware-server (free) on Linux, or
>> VMware-Fusion (not free) on Mac to run Windows to admin VMware-ESXi.
>> :-(
>
> I have a Windows VM running with the client installed. ;-)

Hopefully the VM is auto boot, and it has RDP enabled!   :-)

>>> is the limited hardware support, I ended up
>>> replacing a few components of my server to be able to use ESXi.
>>
>> I'd love to be able to run ESXi at home on an old PC, but I haven't
>> attempted it yet.  (and I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on
>> "supported" server hardware)
>>
>> What problems did you run into?  What hardware did you replace to
>> make it run?
>
> It was a step-by-step process, but I basically I ended up replacing my
> 3ware sata raid controller with a LSI1068E one (supermicro has a cheap
> one), replaced the NIC with a Intel based Gig desktop card and also
> ended up replacing my board/cpu/ram since I wanted the hw
> virtualization support.

So basically, you ended up building a whole new machine.  :-)

Do you have a shopping list for anyone who wants to build one cheap?

I've got a bunch of old IDE drives.  Is there any way to make them
work, or do I have to go SATA?

 - BS

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